Metered Access

Crain's Detroit Business is a metered site. Print and digital subscribers have unlimited access to stories, but registered users are limited to eight stories every 30 days. After viewing three metered stories, you'll be asked to register or log in. After eight more stories in 30 days, you'll be asked to subscribe.

Orr, who says he is "all in" for "the Olympics of restructuring," has extensive experience with bankruptcy but said Thursday he hopes to avoid that route. Responsible for developing a written financial plan for Detroit, Orr said he and Mayor Dave Bing have discussed having "a true partnership" as he works to right the city's fiscal woes.

Jurors convicted Kilpatrick of a raft of crimes, including racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum punishment of 20 years behind bars. He was portrayed during a five-month trial as an unscrupulous politician who took bribes, rigged contracts and lived far beyond his means while in office until fall 2008.

Zuckerman out at DMC after restructuring

Zuckerman

Mary Zuckerman, executive vice president of administrative services at the Detroit Medical Center, left the for-profit hospital system Friday in a restructuring that phased out her job, sources told Crain's. Zuckerman, employed by the DMC since 2004, had been in her current job since January. She was COO from 2010 to 2012.

On the move

Troy-based Talmer Bank and Trustannounced it hiredMark Jannott as managing director and wealth adviser. Jannott was senior vice president and managing director of the investment and estate planning group in the Birmingham office of Kalamazoo-based Greenleaf Trust.

Steven Potter, president and partner of Auburn-Hills based law firm Potter, DeAgostino, O'Dea & Patterson, and Matthew Wirgau, former board member for the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, were appointed to the Regional Transit Authority Governing Board. The 10-member board is expected to meet for the first time in April.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestrahas recruited the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's finance director, Linda Lutz, as its new CFO, effective March 25. Lutz, 50, with the Jewish Federation since 2004, succeeds Rozanne Kokko, 59, who retired in December.

Company news

Advertising agency Campbell Ewald, which last week announced it will relocate its headquarters from Warren to downtown Detroit inside Ford Field, is in talks to pick up a major new client: Cadillac. No timeline has been disclosed.

General Motors Co.is considering consolidating most of Chevrolet's creative work under Interpublic Group's McCann Worldgroup, one-half of the 50-50 venture called Commonwealth that was formed nearly a year ago with Omnicom Group Inc.'s Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, a person familiar with the talks told Automotive News.

Troy-based Entertainment Publications LLC, publisher of the white coupon book sold mostly through fundraisers in more than 150 cities, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.

The Michigan Gaming Control BoardapprovedGreektown Superholdings Inc.'s request to execute a fourth amendment to its current credit agreement that includes extending by one year, to Dec. 30, 2014, the expiration date of Greektown's $45 million revolving credit agreement.

Livonia-based Awrey Bakeryrestarted production less than a month after the 103-year-old company closed its doors. The bakery, now owned by Minnie Marie Bakers Inc. of Midland, plans to continue doing business under the Awrey brand name, and is forming a marketing plan.

Two former American Laser Centers executives formed a Delaware-based joint venture, QuickSlim Centers, with Florida-based QuickSlim Lipo to open noninvasive fat-reduction centers in Michigan. Kevin Piecuch, former chief administrative officer and general counsel of ALC, and former COO Tony Zanlungo also established a Novi-based company, QSC Novi LLC, to operate the Michigan centers and hired two employees to provide treatments at its newly opened centers in Novi and East Lansing, AP reported.

The Detroit Lions highlighted a busy first week of National Football League free-agent signings by landing running back Reggie Bush (four-year contract around $16 million), safety Glover Quinn and defensive end Jason Jones. The team retained cornerback Chris Houston, but 12th-year offensive tackle Jeff Backus announced his retirement.

Penske Racing reached a multiyear sponsorship deal with Quicken Loans Inc. The Detroit-based mortgage lender will be featured on the cockpit of the No. 3 Chevrolet driven by three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves and No. 12 Chevrolet driven by three-time road series champion Will Power, and will be presenting sponsor for a doubleheader race weekend at the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix.

A123 Systems Inc., the bankrupt former electric-car battery maker with plants in Livonia and Romulus, won court approval to seek votes from creditors on its repayment plan. The company will seek court approval of the plan that distributes the proceeds from selling off substantially all of its assets at a hearing scheduled for April 30.

Other news

Home sales in Wayne, Oakland, Livingston and Macomb counties fell 7.1 percent last month from February 2012, but median sales prices rose 37.9 percent to $80,000, according to Farmington Hills-based Realcomp II Ltd.

Revenue for Detroit's three casinos fell 13.7 percent in February compared with the same month last year but increased 4.8 percent from January of this year, according to the Michigan Gaming Control Board. MotorCity Casino Hotel revenue dropped 10.8 percent to $38.3 million in February compared with the same month of 2012, MGM Grand Detroit revenue dropped 13.1 percent year over year to $46.5 million in February, and Greektown Casino-Hotel saw the biggest drop last month — 18.4 percent, to $26.6 million in revenue.

The Sierra Clubfiled a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against DTE Energy Co. and its subsidiaries over more than 1,400 alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act over the past four years at DTE's Belle River, River Rouge, St. Clair and Trenton Channel coal plants.

Bills are being introduced in the Michigan House to prevent communities from holding back millage money voters approved for the Detroit Zoo and Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Free Press reported. The bills would affect tax increment financing set up to withhold or capture some tax revenue.

The University of Michigan Law School moved up one slot to No. 9 in the 2014 Best Law Schools ranking by U.S. News & World Report. The Michigan State University College of Law rose to No. 80 from No. 82 last year, and Wayne State University Law School rose from No. 110 to No. 105 out of 194 accredited schools. UM's Stephen M. Ross School of Business dropped one slot to 14th from the previous year on U.S. News & World Report's 2014 Best Business Schools list, and MSU's Eli Broad College of Business finished No. 43 among 104 programs.

Detroit's Coleman A. Young Airport, among some Michigan airports that could be forced to shutter their air traffic control towers or sacrifice midnight shifts, is pressing its case with federal transportation officials to preserve those services. The Federal Aviation Administration is preparing to shut off funding to reduce spending by $600 million under automatic federal budget cuts.

The U.S. economy will continue to improve steadily in the coming months despite ongoing political battles and uncertainty in Washington, Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group, told a Detroit Economic Club audience at the Westin Book Cadillac.

Michigan's 134 community hospitals increased average operating margins in 2011 to 3.3 percent from 2.8 percent in 2010 primarily by reducing costs, improving quality and recording a 9 percent reduction in uncompensated care, according to a report by the Michigan Health and Hospital Association.

The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commissionfiled a misconduct complaint against Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Wade McCree, who had a sexual relationship with a woman who had a case pending in his court, AP reported.

Arthur Blackwell II, former emergency manager for Highland Park, pleaded no contest in Wayne County Circuit Court to mishandling public money for receiving unauthorized payments from the city, AP reported. The charge is a misdemeanor.

Hulking black mounds that rose recently on two sites along the Detroit River in southwest Detroit are prompting concerns about potential pollution. The Detroit Free Press reported that the petroleum coke, or pet coke, mounds are a byproduct of oil refining used in energy production. The material has been brought by trucks from the nearby refinery owned by Findlay, Ohio-based Marathon Petroleum Co.

More than 300 Michigan municipalities face nearly $13 billion in unfunded liabilities to cover the cost of health care for retired public workers, according to a study by Michigan State University. The report said only half of the municipalities are prefunding retiree health care, AP reported.

A bipartisan group of Michigan House members announced support for a two-bill package that would modify the Michigan Merit Curriculum to make it easier for students not on the college path to take vocational classes that might better suit their needs.

The National Hockey League's realignment plan was announced, and will send the Detroit Red Wings into the Eastern Conference starting next season. It is expected to mean earlier games for fans, less West Coast travel for the Wings and a revenue increase for Fox Sports Detroit, the Wings' broadcast partner.

The Michigan House and Senate approved a series of bills designed to aid the state's water-starved harbors. The bills would lower fees for some dredging projects and let emergency projects bypass a waiting period.

Attorney General Bill Schuette announced he will lead the new Michigan Commission on Human Trafficking, AP reported.

Production workers averaged 41.9 hours a week in February, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, matching December 1997 and January 1998 as the most since May 1944, Bloomberg News reported.

About seven of 10 Americans talk on their mobile phones while behind the wheel, a distraction more common in the U.S. than Europe, said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A survey showed 69 percent of Americans used their phones while driving in the previous 30 days, compared to a range of 21 to 59 percent in seven European countries, Bloomberg News reported.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson has appointedSteven Potter and Matthew Wirgau to the Regional Transit Authority Governing Board. They are the final two members of the 10-member RTA board, which is expected to meet for the first time in April.

Obituaries

Edward Mayne, founder and former president-CEO of Bloomfield Hills-based marketing-management firm Mayne-McKenney Inc., died Feb. 26 in Bloomfield Hills. He was 94.